Hi all.
I am planing out a single seater track car based on the Terrapin plans and I am trying to choose which type of engine to put in it.
Common sence says put a bike engine in (lighter and more powerful) but there is just a nagging bit of my mind that says stick with a car power
plant.
So to the point.... I just wondered why you guys chose the engines you did???
Cheers
Mark
I had a bhp figure and maximum weight in mind after that came , simplicity, cost, cost of go faster bits.
For a car used for normal road use bike engines just aren't practical enough due the transmision problems.
Looking around car engines the xflo is just too old and expensive to rebuild, the Pinto always was overweight even in 1970 so that left the 1600 CVH,
Zetec, Rover K and Toyota.
Of those the 1600 CVH was by far the simplest to install to be replaced at a later date by something with more a valves.
The only other engine I might of considered would have been a Chrysler Sunbeam 930 which could have made a very nice Lotus Seven S1 replica.
not actually bought one yet butmost of the ford bits seem to bolt together without much difficulty. a 2.0 zetec is top of my list at the moment with an MT75 box (light weight) and a sierra prop and diff.
had a car engine in at first as I wanted a fast comfy drive, but after having it a year and only doing 4000 miles im not in it long enough to get comfy. I want to do a few track days and I want to get to 100mph as fast as possible, so decided to install an R1.
I got my Vauxhall 2L 8 valve Cav SRI 130 engine because I swopped it for an old model car I didn't want any more. And it had just been fully
rebuilt which saved me a job!
For bang per buck initially and later potential for upgrades, the Vauxhall red top is hard to beat.
until you drive a bec then it all makes sence
Nice choice...
i started with a 1600 pinto, cos it came in my donor - i now regret it and wish i had gone bike initially. I couldnt give a stuff about driveability,
i want a car that is violently fast, and i also love the frantic sound of a BEC being abused
on the plus side, i wouldnt have had it drivable in time to move house last year if i had gone bike initially.
There are quite a few Honda K20C series engines out of the new shape Civic Type-R around in breakers. A few companies are producing new bell housings
allowing adaptation to RWD. These are very good engines and in std tune you have 200BHP 8200 redline and 145lbs of torque. The iVTec ecu used with
these engines is very tuneable with plenty of people offering the service.
The Ford Duratec engine (actually produced by Mazda) is also a real stonker. Very tuneable, strong and cheap. Because of this plenty of top engine
builders are now using it and in comparison to Japanese engines like Honda/Toyota can easily see 300+ BHP for relatively modest sums of money.
For the money that they can be purchased for from a breakers and the later ease of upgradability have a look for a 2ltr Duratec from a Mondeo.
[Edited on 16/1/05 by atomic]
I chose a 2.0 pinto as it was cheap and tuneable and BEC's are for sissies. Real men use car engines
I chose the Alfa V6 cos some B*****d abandoned one on my drive.
I kinda got to liking the idea that is was going to be a 'one off'.
Haven't seen one before.
Going to take a lot of adapting.
Electrics a complete nightmare.
need to fabricate a bellhousing.
need to squeeze the bloody big lump in.
Its got no ground clearence at all.
But on the plus side.
200BPH
All alloy
SOUNDS BEAUTIFUL
a 300 hp duratec is not easy money - tiger want £10k , not my kind of cheap , of course ill stick with volvo since you lot dont want em , so theyll stay dead cheap - 182 hp and 190lb ft for £150 , my only problem is mounting the huge intercooler . a chip or MS is available , these engine will go to 400 hp on std internals - i know what im using .
Rover V8.
Cos I like them. Nice relaxed, easy to work on motor with a marvellous noise!
ATB
Simon
Mark, you know what I would say
If Tiger want 10K then they are taking the P*ss.
To be honest you will not get a reliable 400bhp from the Volvo on std internals. It will need forged pistons and rods plus an upgraded waste gate to
stop waste gate chatter at increased boost levels.
[Edited on 16/1/05 by atomic]
Was building using the pinto that came with the donor........Scotlad took us out for a bec ride.........Stuff the pinto......then macspeedy had
rebuilt his pinto and that was a few quid.
Bec and stuff the driveability it nuts or nothing. We can use macs car if theres traffic and I live in the sticks so I rarely see traffic jams sobec
it is.
i went out in a m8's mk indy blade ,the next day i ordered my kit,iv only ever been in 1 car engined kit car and that was my brothers indy and im
glad i went the bike route + i work with bikes ,there easy to work with and i love the sound
id have to say the xe redtop cos you can pick them up for 2-300 quid now,and hey you might be as jammy as mr g. and get one with a coscast head on
it
. and we all know how easy it is to get +200bhp from 1
Rover V8.... Just on the noise alone...
Promised myself a V8 one day...
Now I am doing it..
BEC's??... well maybe later!!.. A bit "frantic" for me..
2.0 Pinto because it came in the £35 donor. I'm building a ZX9R Locost now though.
atomic : its been done and is regularly done in sweden , theres too many grandads round here that are driving potential donors .
Volvosport: If you say its okay then I will not argue with you as I'm sure you have more experience with the said units as I've never have
much to do with them myself but I have seen quite a few with head gasket problems.
Another one to look into would be the RS2000 lump from the MK5 & 6 escort.
You can keep the std ecu and using Kent RS201 cams, a super chip and very light head work you will see 200BHP and it should not cost more than 1200.
These engines are very strong and will rev to 7500 on std internals. If you do some research you will find the engine was developed by Mountune with
the idea to use it as a race engine.
[Edited on 17/1/05 by atomic]
to agree with Volvorsport, a 300hp naturally aspirated 4 pot will cost a lot, £10,000 is very cheap for that power! A millington 2.0 engine with 285
hp will be around the £18,000 mark!
back to reality, I use a Vauxhall 16v XE engine, because bits are readily available, 200hp is just bolt on stuff, and this combines with 165 lbft of
torque which is nice for a std n/a 2.0 engine. I also happen to have loads of XE 16v bits laying around.
If I didn't have the bits already, I would have gone the BEC route, as these are so cheap. Yes, a base Vauxhall XE engine will be £200 to £300
quid even with a coscast head, but it will need a rebuild if you want it to last with 200hp. The bellhousing/sump/gearbox/injection/throttle bodies
etc etc etc are also not cheap. (yes you can do it on the cheap but then it is almost always a compromise and a bit crap!)
BEC is undoubtedly the cheapest way to a good power to weight ratio, but for the reasons above I have gone with the Vauxhall 16v XE.
jeez millingtons have gone up - it is a unique engine block tho - we had millingtons in darrians .
ill have to say that the volvo engine comes with all the bits necessary and quite easily massaged to 250 hp , with all std equipment
[Edited on 17/1/05 by Volvorsport]
I will stick with my lima. 1 Canadian dollar per horsepower- purchase price of $175. for engine and T5 tranny another 50 for seals bearings
headgasget--and probably sitting at 225 hp.- Heavy though even a bit more than a pinto- but my car isn't quite normal either.
Dale
Rescued attachment small engine pic.jpg
I'm building with a Saab turbo engine because I'm addicted to acceleration! Even though Saab haven't done any RWD cars it's
very easy to change that - just add a gearbox from an Vauxhall Omega...
300 bhp within reach with only minor modifications such as injectors and turbo and a new program in the ECU.
About Engines
(USA)
I purchased a front collison 2004 Mazda B2300 with a 2.3L Duratec...Why? 400 miles on the truck when wrecked. I bought it because low miles and
thinking it would be reliable.
Later I found out that it is a rather desireable engine.
quote:
Originally posted by Volvorsport
jeez millingtons have gone up - it is a unique engine block tho - we had millingtons in darrians .
ill have to say that the volvo engine comes with all the bits necessary and quite easily massaged to 250 hp , with all std equipment
[Edited on 17/1/05 by Volvorsport]
quote:
Originally posted by Friberg
I'm building with a Saab turbo engine because I'm addicted to acceleration!
300 bhp within reach with only minor modifications such as injectors and turbo and a new program in the ECU.
quote:
Originally posted by NS Devmay well soon be sticking a 2.3t saab into an opel manta for a bit of fun!
ahhhh, I didn't know that! Now I do, thank you very much for that, it may have saved my brother (who owns the manta) a lot of money!!
Thanks
Nat
I stuck with a crossflow. Wanted that period look to the car. They're not too expensive to rebuild, despite those who say they are!
They're a piece of wee to work on, respond very well to a head port and a mild cam, oh and a rebore to 1700cc.
Mines pretty much standard in every other respect, pushing out about 115bhp. They also sound ACE when thrashed!!
Marcus